1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system for supporting cooking or preparing foods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems for supporting cooking by electronically planning a menu for one meal or by accepting orders for cooking materials on-line have been proposed.
For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H10-177598 discloses a menu planning system. This system visualizes serving states of dishes included in a menu, to help plan a menu. In addition, this system can automatically calculate nutritive values and material costs of dishes based on the serving states of dishes, and display the calculation results.
As another example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. H9-274629 discloses a material order system. In this system, when ordering materials for a dish via a computer network, users can add, cancel, or increase or decrease numbers of materials.
Cooking service providers such as box lunch venders, pizza delivery service providers, etc. make dishes at the request of customers. Usually, cooking service providers prepare a menu which lists dishes, and provide it to customers. Customers select dishes of their tastes from the menu, and order the selected dishes from the cooking service providers.
If cooking service providers make changes in the menu in accordance with tastes of customers, it becomes harder to efficiently procure materials used in dishes included in the menu which has been changed. And it is demanded to realize an integrated system in which cooking service providers, who have received orders for dishes, can instantaneously make orders for necessary cooking materials to cooking material providers.